Superpark 14 Presented by Gatorade Day 3: May I have Another

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"Dustin Craven is a man who could write his own book but could never read it. Dustin is also a man who will openly and publicly ask me where to get a hooker in Vegas."
-Andrew Hardingham
R: Dustin Craven

Photos: Oli Gagnon
Words and captions: T-Bird

Holy fuck.

Day 3 of Superpark 14 at Mammoth Mountain, CA saw the heaviest shit go down in years. The morning sessions on Mammoth’s massive step down precluded what was one of the most prolific and progressive jump sessions (possibly) of all time.

For the first few days, apres rumors spread throughout the village at bar tables littered with beer bottles and empty shot glasses.

“Dude, I hear the thing is fucked.”
“They built another big jump?”
“I wouldn’t hit it for all the money in the world.”

For their second annual Superpark appearance, the builders from Loon Mountain, NH pushed a pile of snow that would make any established park jumper shit their pants at the top of the drop-in. 2 and a half football fields of run in collided with a 3 story takeoff stepover that resulted in jacket-flapping airtime. Norwegian Gjermund Bråten was the first to send the beast and once he safely rode away from his first two attempts, word spread around Superpark that the now-infamous “Loon jump session” was a go.

Jeremy Thompson fired his first run to flat, hopped back on a sled and dropped in again to a hundred-plus foot back seven. The chairlift erupted when Stompy touched down and the invite-only jumpers continued on. Standouts included Tyler Flanagan, Lonnie Kauk, Chas Guldemond, Austen Sweetin, Austin Hironaka, Mario Cappeli, Matts Kulisek, Heikki Sorsa, Sammy Carlson, Jason Robinson, Eric Willett, Markku Koski, Marc Swoboda, and a handful of other attendees.

Between Flanagan’s back ten late cork, Austin Hironaka’s late frontside 180, Marc Swoboda’s perfect back sevens and Sweetin’s flawless front threes, it was a session including myriad tricks and riders. Where else would you see two former Olympians, an X Games bronze medalist and a mix of unknown (but not for long) Euros session one of the biggest jumps built in recent memory?

After the jump session, Pat Melandoski and the High Cascade digger crew unveiled their creation: A huge quarterpipe located in the exact spot that Pete Columbo’s massive hip was last year. Though it seemed like a bit of a warm-up session, riders like Trevor Jacob, Colin Langlois, Danny Garrity, Ben Bilocq, Dustin Craven, Nate Farrell, Austen Sweetin and a Japanese kid who didn’t know what I said when I asked him what his name was were checking it out and getting a feel for the transition. Topping out at around 20 or so feet, Craven had arguably the highest air of the day, but tomorrow will tell yet another tale in this chapter of the Superpark book.

Keep checking back for daily updates from Superpark 14 at Mammoth Mountain, CA. Today was totally fucked, and the next two days are sure to follow in this afternoon’s footsteps.